Innovating Together: 54 Organizations Invited to Participate in PG&E’s Innovation Pitch Fest Sept. 12-14

By Paul Doherty

PG&E today announced the 54 organizations invited to participate in its first-ever Innovation Pitch Fest, Sept. 12-14 in San Ramon.

Pitch Fest is the next step in PG&E’s new research, development (R&D) and innovation initiative focused on bridging the gap between today’s energy system and California’s electrified and decarbonized future.

The new initiative is anchored on PG&E’s R&D Strategy Report (released in June), which details nearly 70 challenges and opportunities for R&D around six key themes. Following the report, PG&E hosted its first Innovation Summit in July, where nearly 3,000 people from private industry, academia, government agencies and startups convened in person and online to engage and collaborate with PG&E leaders and subject-matter experts about the current state and future needs of PG&E’s energy system.

“We need to make the smartest investments, in the right way, at the lowest cost for customers. To do this we need solutions and ideas from all sources and players — near and far, small and large — and we need breakthrough thinking, collaboration, and swift execution,” said Jason Glickman, executive vice president, Engineering, Planning and Strategy, PG&E. “We need the best and brightest to join PG&E on this innovation journey in service to people, our planet and California’s prosperity. We are so grateful for all who attended our Innovation Summit in July and submitted applications to participate in Pitch Fest. We are humbled and deeply appreciate the time and care that has already gone into helping us solve some of our greatest challenges. We’re just getting started, and I can’t wait to see what we’ll achieve together.”

PG&E received and evaluated more than 600 applications to participate in Pitch Fest, and the following 54 organizations were ultimately invited to participate following PG&E’s application judging and deliberation process. With limitations around the number of presentations that could be accommodated during the event, many additional applications are still under consideration by PG&E beyond the ones selected to present.

PG&E’s strategy and needs as well as available technology and solutions continue to evolve over time, and there will be additional avenues for collaborating with PG&E beyond Pitch Fest.

During Pitch Fest, each organization will have 15 minutes to present their respective solution to PG&E decision makers. Successful pitches have the potential to lead to a range of follow-on engagements with PG&E, including but not limited to direct partnership and grant opportunities.

The organizations participating in Pitch Fest include:

Pitches on Gas innovations from:

• Onboard Dynamics
• C-FER Technologies
• Sapphire Technologies
• Project Canary
• MMT
• Barr Geospatial Solutions
• RodRadar
• TrelliSense
• ZeroCO2Energy

Pitches on Undergrounding innovations from:

• CivilGrid
• GE Vernova
• CivRobotics
• Melni Innovations
• Parsons
• SAM
• ABB
• The Okonite Company
• Biosirius

Pitches on Electric Vehicle innovations from:

• Eaton
• Connect California
• itselectric
• Nuvve
• Gridtractor
• The EV Button
• Lumin
• ev.energy
• Valmont Industries
• WeaveGrid
• New Sun Road

Pitches on Integrated Grid Planning innovations from:

• Ubicquia
• ACTUAL
• Palantir Technologies
• Camlin Energy
• Infravision
• Siemens Energy
• GE Vernova
• Royal Power Energy

Pitches on Wildfire innovations from:

• Treeswift
• Sentient Energy
• eSmart Systems
• Ubicquia
• Future Grid
• N5 Sensors
• Delphire
• The Davey Tree Expert Company
• GRID20/20

Pitches on Supply and Load Management innovations from:

• EnerVenue
• Ubicquia
• Piclo
• Flex Power Control
• Vellex Computing
• Moxion
• Upstart Power
• Grid-Science
• Kraken
• Gridspertise
• Mainspring Energy

An invitation to Pitch Fest does not imply any commercial selection.

To learn more about PG&E’s innovation initiative, to read PG&E’s R&D Strategy Report, or to contact PG&E and get involved, visit www.pge.com/innovation.